Stopper-extractor.



N0. 637,048. Patented Nov. I4, |899. B. TOULUTTE.

STOPPER EXTBACTOR.

(Appumionmed .my 11, 1899:

um man.)

NVJENTOR. HM iugm.

WASHINGTON n c UNITED STATES i PATENT OFFICE.

BERTIN TOULOTTE, OF FAR HILLS, NEW JERSEY.

STO PPER-EXTRACTO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 637,048, dated November 14, 1899.

Application filed J'uly 17, 1899. Serial No. 724,120. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BERTIN ToULoITE, a' citizen of the United States, residing at Far Hills, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stopper-Extractors; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to that class of pocket-knives which are provided with a variety of blades suited for different uses; and its object is to adapt a pocket-knife for the use of butlers and caterers who go out to serve stylish and expensive dinners-su ch a knife as could be used in cutting bread or lemons, in breaking ice, and in opening bottles, some of which require the breaking of a wire fastener and extracting a cork and others requiring the removal of a seal-cap cork.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts forming a pocket-knife, hereinafter more fully de scribed, and particularly pointed out in the claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a side view of a knife according to my invention. Fig. II is a face view, and Fig. III-a rear end view, of the seal-cap-cork remover. Fig. IV showsthe knife ready for removing a seal-cap cork.

5 represents the knife-handle, on which are pivoted a common. cutting-blade 6, an icepick 7, and a corkscrew 8, all provided with springs to keep them, as usual, when open or shut.

9 represents a blade which is the main peculiarity of this invention. It is made, preferably, of sheet-steel bent in the form of a trough longitudinally and provided with two ears l0, which straddle the end of the handle and are held thereto by a pivoted rivet 11, around which this blade may be swung for a half-circle from the closed position (shown in Fig. I) to the open position ready for service. (Shown in Fig. IV.) This blade is unlike other knife-blades in the fact that it covers over the handle when closed like a trough. The point is wedge-shaped back to the shoulders 12 in order that it may be driven forcibly under a wire to force the wire from over the cork of a bottle.

13 represents a notch in the two sides at one edge of this blade to admit a cap, such as cap 14, of a bottle. These caps are usually made of sheet metal, such as thick tin, and are forced under great pressure to engage a groove at 15 in the neck of the bottle to hold a wafer of cork 16, compressed air-tight upon the mouth of the bottle. The removal of this cap to open the bottle requires a considerable force, and it must be carefully applied to avoid spilling the contents of the bottle when the cap comes ed.

At one end of the notch 13 a hook 17 is formed in each side of the blade. These hooks are designed to catch under the lower edge of the tin cap, and then the knife-handle serves as a lever by which that edge may be pried upon to force the cap out of engagement with the bottle-neck and lift it from the bottle. There is no spring within the handle for this blade, because the direction of the strain in service keeps it open at that time, and when closed the sides of the blade straddle the handle and pinch'enough to hold the blade normally closed. The hooks of this blade, be`

ing far apart, serve'especially to retain a firm hold upon the edge of the cap, and the sides along the notch 13, being also far apart, serve as a broad bearing to rest upon the cap as a fulcrum, so that great force may be applied steadily to lift the cap. If there were only a single thin edge and thin hook to a blade for this purpose, it would be liable to be twisted sidewise and to slip off, requiring repeated trials before the cap could be removed, while these two hooks, as described, are efficient in the hand of an unskilled operator.

The various uses of the common knifeblade, the ice-pick, and the corkscrew are too well known to require further explanation.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

In stopper-extractors, a pocket-knife handle, a blade in the shape of a trough whose sides terminate in ears adapted to straddle the handle and to be pivoted thereto; the said sides being adapted to pinch upon the handle when the blade is closed, and each side being shaped with a notch and a hook, substantially as described.

ICO

Intestimony whereof I affix my signature v in presence of two witnesses.

BERTIN TOULOTTE.

Witnesses:

.IoIIN SIMMONS, JOHN DowLING. 

